It's the next morning and Marie is up bright and earlier. She decided to cornrow her hair last night and it has saved her time this morning. She is busy spending that time trying to figure out what to wear for her first day at Clover High. She finally settles on a long flowy dress that she loves. It is a powder blue dress with short sleeves and reaches her calves. She pairs it with some sandals and her mother's necklace. The necklace was the only thing salvaged from the fire and it has become Marie's good luck charm. Happy with her final look Marie goes downstairs to the mess hall to have breakfast with her friends before the van comes to pick them up.

Once at school, Cleo walks Marie to the office. Marie grabs her schedule, a map of the school, and a piece of paper that has her locker number and code. She hands Cleo her schedule and she looks over the map trying to figure out where her locker is.

"It looks like you have classes with at least one of us. Except for your fourth class of the day. You have first period with Millie and me." Cleo states. She then grabs Marie's hand and drags her to their first class. "Come on you can look for your locker during lunch. We need to get to class to get you a seat."

The two make it to class and see Millie sitting up front. She has her books out and is scribbling in her notebook. When Cleo spots Millie she says "That's perfect, Marie you can sit up front with Millie. You are more fluent in ASL than I am so it's better if you sit next to Millie than if I do." Cleo drags Marie to the empty seat next to Millie and sits at the table behind them.

'Hey Marie, you have first period with us?' Millie signs.

'Yes, do you want to see my schedule?' Marie signs back and then pulls her schedule from her folder. Millie takes the schedule from Marie's outstretched hand and reads it over.

'We have a lot of classes together. Awesome. I am usually bored in third-period so this is perfect.' Millie signs with bubbly hand movements. Marie loves that Millie can showcase her bubbly personality through her signing.

The teacher walks in and shortly after they sit the bell rings. When everyone is settled the teacher calls upon Marie to stand up and introduce herself to the class. She gives a brief introduction and sits back down. The same thing happens in her next class which she shares with Cassandra. Marie is uncomfortable with the attention she is getting today but it's expected since she is new. She expects the same routine to happen for the rest of the day.

When her second class ends she meets up and walks with Millie to their third-period class. The room is already semi-full when they enter. They walk to Millie's usual table at the front of the room closer to the teacher. As she sits down her nose is hit with the most pleasant smell. It's faint but Marie has always had a good sense of smell. The scent is a mixture of vanilla, rain, and trees. She looks around wondering whose cologne smells so good. At that moment, the bell rings and the teacher shuffles in right after.

Millie taps her on her arm and signs 'Is everything okay? You zoned out there for a second. I was trying to get your attention.'

Marie signs back 'Yes I am fine. Sorry. Is there something you need?'

'No, nothing like that I just wanted to ask if you were settling in okay.' Millie signed.

Before Marie could answer the teacher cleared his throat. "Is there something you want to share with the class Ms..." he trails off realizing he doesn't recognize this student. "Oh that's right, you must be the new student joining us today. Well, since you have mine and everyone else's attention please introduce yourself."

Marie stands up slowly, feeling embarrassed. "Hello every-" before she can continue the teacher cuts her off.

"Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. Stand in front of the class and introduce yourself."

Marie feeling even more embarrassed walks to the front of the class. "Hello everyone my name is Marie Hendricks. I just moved to Clover Green and I am 15 years old. It is nice to meet you all." She looks around the classroom as she auto-pilots her introduction speech. She notices Millie at the front giving her an encouraging smile. She looks away from Millie and her eyes momentarily stop at a boy in the back of the class. For a brief moment, she forgets she is giving an introduction and is lost in a trance. Before she realizes what is happening she finishes her speech, the teacher claps and tells her to sit. She walks back to her seat and the teacher writes his name on the board and begins the lesson. Throughout the period she can feel a pair of eyes burning a hole in her back.

At the end of class, Millie signs to Marie 'Time for lunch, Yay.'

'I am so glad I can get a break from introducing myself to people.' Marie signs 'That was so embarrassing. I thought I would burst into flames right there.'

Millie giggles 'Yeah that was pretty bad. But at least you didn't trip on your way up. It could have been much worse.' Marie shakes her head and lifts her hands to sign back. She stops midway through signing, how there is always a silver lining when that pleasant smell drifts by her. She turns her head but before she can get a look at who it belongs to the person has already walked out the door.

Millie gives Marie a weird look. 'You sure you are okay?' she signs when Marie turns back around to face her.

'Yeah, I am fine. Let's get to lunch.' Marie signs and then gathers her things to leave. They walk to the cafeteria. It is a large room with food stations set up, with workers dishing out food against a wall and a window cut out into the kitchen. Across from that wall, there are tables of different sizes and shapes littered around the room. At the back, there are two sets of double doors that lead outside where more tables are placed. Millie and Marie join the line to get food. Once they get their trays filled Marie follows Millie to the group's usual table. Their table is inside the cafeteria near the big windows.

The pair sit down m where everyone is already seated and chatting. They switch the topic to Marie and how her first half of the day is going. Millie tells them about what happened last period and they all laugh and talk about how weird Mr. Philips is. The conversation drifts off to how many compliments Cleo has gotten on her hair and Marie feels eyes on her again. She looks around and her gaze falls outside the window. She sees the boy she locked eyes with in class earlier. She can't help but stare at him, he is the most handsome guy she has ever seen. She didn't get a chance to look at his face in class. He has a mop of short soft soft-looking curls that stop above his ears. His hazel eyes shine in the sunlight and can only be described as pretty. He has perfect white teeth that she catches when he laughs as well as the dimple on his right cheek. His right ear is pierced with a single diamond earring. He has a dark caramel complexion and his muscular arms make her think he works out regularly. He suddenly looks up and she is caught staring so she looks away. She doesn't dare look up again but feels eyes on her again throughout the rest of lunch.